Ep. 141: "I've Got an Alamo That I Want to Forget"

The Truth About Vintage Amps with Skip Simmons

Missing your rambling relatives this holiday season? You're in luck! Tune in to Jason and Skip as they ramble through weather reports, amp fixes, book recommendations, reflective impedance, reverb-driven line-out and more on our 141st episode!

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Some of the topics discussed this week:

:48 Weather report: Rain in the West, bomb cyclones in the PNW

4:32 A 1968 Heathkit catalog with DIY Harmony Guitar kits

6:35 Thanksgiving at the Simmons house

7:09 A noisy Alamo; Pathfinder, the band (link); bands named after amplifiers

8:49 Our sponsors: Grez Guitars; Emerald City Guitars and Amplified Parts (Jensen speakers are currently on sale!)

10:58 Deluxe Amplication's red can El Pato Practice amp! (link, I said green on the podcast...my bad)

11:50 Pre-order William J. Simmons' new book, 'Love and Degradation: Excessive Desires in Queer-Feminist Art' (pre-order link)

12:51 Recommended reading: 'The Golden Ocean' by Patrick O'Brian

14:33 What's on Skip's bench? The secret solid state guru in Sacramento, not to be confused with the washing machine guru

18:54 The Truth About Vintage Amps Patreon page; guided tours of the Skip universe?

20:50 Jason interviews a yogi on the Fretboard Journal podcast (link)

22:35 Adding a half-power switch to a push-pull amp?, tortilla chips

29:48 Would a variac set to 110v help new amps?

31:49 Mullard 10M tubes; going back to school; Skip has all the NOS Amperex 12AX7s

37:58 A Denver TAVA meetup?; one filter cap or two in a Gibson GA-25? Replacing non-polarized electrolytic caps by twisting two regular negative caps together

41:03 More on Skip’s new (old) Fender Duo Sonic

48:26 Using your Fender’s reverb circuit to drive a speaker; Sherlock Holmes’ lazy brother

52:36 Skip is going to make an outboard tremolo pedal

53:09 Why do some reverb tanks have bags?

52:22 A non-alcoholic cocktail featuring ginger ale and cranberry juice

56:02 "I smile at pretty solder joints;" Riddim Restoration of Bellingham, Washington (link)

1:00:45 An early 60's Geloso 215AN, a diode bridge and a choke to create negative voltage; and Denver chocolate pudding cake

1:07:14 Reusing old blown transformers

1:09:00 KVMR Community Radio (link)

1:10:05 A mid-‘50s theremin schematic; the Theremin documentary

Hosted by amp tech Skip Simmons and co-hosted/produced by Jason Verlinde of the Fretboard Journal.

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